TORONTO — A contentious plan to land jets at the Toronto island airport got more complicated Tuesday, with Porter Airlines saying a jet-friendly runway may need to be 64 metres longer than anticipated.

Although the initial plan was to extend the runway by 168 metres on both sides, it may need to be extended into Lake Ontario by a total of 400 metres, the Toronto-based airline said Tuesday.

In a statement, Porter Airlines assured Lake Ontario boaters that the extra runway would “not change the enjoyment of Lake Ontario by Torontonians.”

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“The buoy that boats navigate around when passing through the Western Gap does not move, so there is no material change to access,” said Porter Airlines president Robert Deluce in the statement.

In fact, it would enhance navigation by “providing a breakwater for wave protection and reducing sediment build-up in the area,” it reads.

NoJetsTO, a prominent opponent of the plan, called the announcement “another bombshell in [Porter Airlines’] quest to ruin the waterfront with jet aircraft” and said the expansion would turn “even more of Lake Ontario into tarmac.”

In April, Porter Airlines announced its plan to outfit Billy Bishop Airport for jet aircraft, arguing that the downtown terminal could offer flights to Florida, Vancouver and Los Angeles by as early as 2016.

In anticipation of the new facilities, Porter has placed a conditional $2.29-billion order with Bombardier for as many as 30 CS100 aircraft.

In its promotional materials, the airline has stressed the claim that the planes are the “quietest commercial jets in production.”

The longer runway would only make them quieter, according to the company, since they would use less power on take-off. Still, the airline clarified that the original 168 meter proposal is still being given equal consideration.

But the proposal has a big hurdle: Porter Airlines is still working to overturn a 30-year-old tripartite agreement between the City of Toronto, the Toronto Port Authority and the federal government.